Regaining Repose
by TeaAndGlee
Summary: A Cheerio, dating someone who could easily be branded a dork… well, no one ever said high school was easy. Marley Rose is finally giving it a shot with Ryder, a glee clubber and honorary geek. As they battle through their last year at McKinley, there is sure to be drama - will Marley let their turbulent year brainwash her into the popularity mind-set? SEQUEL TO 'NEW PERSPECTIVE'.
1. The Prologue

**Back, as promised ;)**

**Just so any new readers know: this story is the sequel to my other story, **_**New Perspective**_** – so if you haven't read that, I thoroughly recommend you do so you can fully understand this story.**

**I was going to wait to post this up in October so it would hit the 1 year anniversary of **_**New Perspective**_**, but I just couldn't wait any longer! Enjoy.**

**DISCLAIMER: Glee isn't mine.**

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><p>Senior year. Class of 2015. Next year, she would be let out into the world. Of course, when she was a freshman, she never dreamt that this would be how it would go – the dream was always to get popular, get loved, win prom queen, fall in love with a prince charming with a gorgeous physique, then go off into the big wide world knowing that no one could touch Marley Rose. That was always the dream. And this senior year was hardly anything like that dream at all.<p>

"Up. No, down. It looks more casual down. But it's chilly today and everyone will be wearing them up… but down. Yes, definitely down. Hold on, let's try it up again, just to make sure…" The brunette bickered to herself indecisively, doing so whilst pulling the zipper of her boyfriend's hoodie up to his chest, before another idea shot into her brain and triggered her to place the zipper of the navy hoodie back down at the hem, unclasping it altogether and letting the sides of the clothing article swing calmly at his hips. The model in question, of course, being none other than Glee Clubber and raging fan of science and math, Mister Ryder Lynn.

"Babe," Ryder cut in, surprising both himself and his smaller doe-eyed girlfriend. Upon hearing the chestnut-haired boy's interruption, she paused, halfway through another mumbling sentence and a zip-up, looking up at him with a worried look etched across her pale face.

"What?" She whispered, frustrated, annoyed at her own tentativeness. Her hands still gripped the hem of his hoodie.

Ryder's face softened at her narrow expression, and he began caressing one of her cheeks with a large thumb as he shrugged. "The hoodie doesn't matter." He brushed aside, hoping she would believe his words.

"Yeah, but…" Marley shrugged back in response, looking down at her perfectly manicured nails, painted a pale, natural pink. Despite having been painted just yesterday in preparation for this day, they began to chip at the tips, undoubtedly due to her anxious nibbling and picking at them. She let out a final huff. "I'm sorry. I guess I just want everything to be…"

"I know." Ryder understood, accepting Marley's train of thought instantly; he had been fussing about this too.

20 minutes later, following simple talk about what small things were happening in their lives soon and when – trips, parents, applications, dates, movies – it was about time to start moving in.

The couple agreed several nights before to come in early for the first day of school and meet behind the dumpsters, preparing themselves on the day so that it would be easier to take in the moment; to gain composure. Then, once this tranquillity was gained, they would walk into school together, holding hands, making themselves vulnerable to the public eye and – ideally – with confidence. But after a long summer of countless perfect nights without the pressure of high school or the ever-scary social ladder that McKinley possessed, the pair were out of practice, and feared they had miscalculated things. Would they curl under pressure? Act unnatural? Slip down the linoleum floor and make complete fools of themselves right for the student body to see?

"Mar, maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe we should wait a little while, wait until everyone is more relaxed." Ryder caved. To be frank, he was petrified. The boy knew very well what the students of that school were capable of: seemingly eating them alive, slushying them until their skin is a permanent cold, malicious teasing, even physical assault. And now it was time for Marley to do the reassuring.

"Ry, we're seniors now. It's the first day of school, I'm sure no one will even notice us because they'll be too busy catching up with each other." They both knew that could very well be a lie. "Okay, okay. Okay. Breathe. We can do this. Just act nonchalant, like nothing is even weird. Nothing _is _weird, right? It's just a relationship."

"_Just a relationship between a Cheerio and the biggest dork in school, yeah, I'm sure it's _totally_ casual."_ Ryder almost retorted sarcastically, but he was too whipped and overtaken with nerves to interrupt as his girlfriend continued her assurance.

"Mr Schue emailed us and told us that we'll be having a quick Glee Club meeting before the mandatory school assembly, remember? All we have to do is grab our stuff from our lockers, and walk to the choir room. And then, when we're in there, we can breathe easy, alright?" Marley went on tiptoes and gave Ryder a reassuring kiss on the cheek (and, doing so, appreciated her last few moments of privacy). "Everything will be fine." She mumbled into his skin.

Though she still didn't know if she was saying that to her boyfriend or herself.

Marley pulled her hands out from her Cheerios sweater cardigan, shivering at the cold morning air that now smoothed over them, before straightening her back up. "You ready?"

"I guess." Ryder bit his lip, rising from his leaning position against the school's brick wall. Raking a hand through his Bieber-styled hair, messing it up slightly, and adjusting his black-frame glasses, he confirmed his statement. "Okay, ready."

"Okay," Marley returned with a nervous stride, taking a few steps closer to the entrance with the boy, before frowning and stopping in her tracks. "Wait, wait, wait." She jittered.

"What is it-" Ryder halted and looked at her, before snorting instantaneously at the blue-eyed girl's actions. She had licked her thumb and was now smoothing over Ryder's locks, neatening and fixing the mess that he had done to it a couple of seconds ago.

Moments later, Marley finally looked satisfied and they began walking again, only to stop for a second time after a few more steps. This time, the brunette's thin fingers gripped around the loose hems of Ryder's hoodie, about to try zipping it up again.

"Marley." Ryder spoke abruptly, catching her attention once again, looking at her blankly.

"Fine, okay, sorry." Marley shook her head of her thoughts on the clothing article, and began taking slow but sure strides, closer to the entrance of McKinley. They let a few students passed them, and soon, they were right by the double doors. The cheerleader mumbled something incoherent under her breath before rushing into the school, giving Ryder no other option but to follow suit.

And then, they were in. And the hallways were packed.

Flooded with students and teachers alike, all abuzz with news on vacation or the semester to come… given any other situation, the couple would have done the same. But not now. Now, on the first day of their last year at high school, there was more important business than gossip – the gossip would soon be about _them_, anyway. Marley bit back the urge to roll her eyes at how awfully dramatic the whole event was. Look at them, just a few peaceful high schoolers, but by tomorrow they would be making the New York Times, or something equally, outrageously ridiculous. Why did this even have to be dramatic in the first place? Why is everything taken so personally; so seriously at this school? Why is a cheerleader and a "geek" dating suddenly the biggest love affair of all time – why are they branded star-crossed lovers? Why is this the modern Romeo and Juliet? The story of the McKinley High School century? Before she could go more into what was wrong with humanity and her high school, she felt a pair of eyes look at her.

Slowly turning her head, he looked at her. Nerves. Expectancy. Reassurance. Anxiousness. All mixed within the brown orbs he possessed. She couldn't use words – not now, now that so many people were around… for some reason, it felt wrong. So she used her eyes as well, and a simple head nod, telling him that she was ready. That was all it took for his hand to extend to hers, their fingers slotting together like the perfect jigsaw puzzle, intertwining, sharing mutual clamminess.

They began walking, looking nowhere in particular, guiding each other through the crowded hallways, though for some reason the people parted like the Red Sea at even the sight of the pair. It was ridiculous. She felt ridiculous, he felt ridiculous. But they continued to appear nonchalant to the ever-growing witness count. Marley's blue eyes drifted aimlessly towards the end of the corridor, landing on a certain Jacob Ben Israel, who was frantically jumping around the hallways and ricocheting off the lockers like a tennis ball, interviewing everyone on their vacation; she sent a silent prayer, hoping at all costs that he wouldn't stumble upon her and Ryder. And so, hoping her prayers would be answered, they continued venturing down the chaotic hallways of McKinley with their hands still intertwined. First stop, Ryder's locker. Then Marley's. Then the choir room. Then the auditorium. Ryder began regretting the entire thing, etching another nonchalant expression into his face, hoping there wasn't too long to go before they stopped – which is why relief flooded over him as they arrived at his locker.

Marley let out a sigh as she watched him exchange books, letting the other unrelated conversations going on in the hallways surround and reassure them. She contemplated peering over her shoulder to see if anyone was looking at them, but eventually decided against it, coming to the conclusion that it was better off not knowing instead.

Marley's locker followed on their journey soon after. Putting in and exchanging folders and books into her Cheerios backpack, the cerulean-eyed teenager instinctively started mumbling every fault in their performance. "I kept narrowing my eyebrows and not looking nonchalant. People knew I was uncomfortable with them watching us like that – and I am, Ry. I am! I mean, why can't we just walk through the halls like a normal couple should? Oh God, I almost tripped. Jeanette and Kasey from the Cheerios looked right at me – right at _us_ – oh jeez, oh God, oh-"

"Marley, shhh." Ryder pacified. "Everything's fine. You look great, and it doesn't even matter what they think, remember? It's us against them, and we're always winning." He grinned to reassure her.

"Mhm, yeah. Sorry. I'm okay." Marley brushed off, grinning back.

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"Okay then. You ready?"

"Mhm," The girl confirmed as she slung her red, white and black backpack over one shoulder and grabbed Ryder's sweaty hand with her own once again, marching down the corridor with new confidence that Ryder attempted to match. He tried to focus on the fact that he was living the dream: he was walking down packed hallways of high school with a beautiful Cheerio fastened on his arm. He belonged only to her, and she belonged only to him – how devotion should be.

Their journey was almost at an end and, ignoring a few sniggers as they sidestepped a pack of jocks, they finally wormed their way through the crowds and came face-to-face with the choir room. Stepping in hurriedly as if the space just outside the room was lava, they finally arrived into the welcoming embrace of the area. The brunette finally drew her clammy hand from Ryder's equally moist one, and wrapped her arms around his neck, breathing her first true sigh of freedom into his shoulder. Encircling her waist in his arms in an instant, he breathed in the reassuring scent of her perfume, looking behind her at the equally comforting room he was in, and let out a chuckle. Never had he been so anxious walking down a simple hallway before.

His chuckles and thoughts appeared contagious, because now, Marley was giggling into his hoodie and mumbling "that was the scariest trip of my entire life, as stupid as that is" under her breath. Though she was glad, because it was nowhere as bad as she had dreamt it would be… nevertheless, it was still terrifying, considering their past.

When the Cheerio finally broke away from the hug, she took the liberty of looking right in front of her. Tina, Blaine, Sam, Artie, Sugar, Katie… all people that she knew and who had, after a while, finally accepted her, and he only hoped that they – especially Katie (although I guess she expected it months ago anyway) – would accept _this_.

Ryder sighed for the umpteenth time that day, walking away from their spot at the door and venturing instead over to a chair to the left of the room, on the bottom row. The boy was slinging his bag down his shoulder and disregarding it on another chair to his left as Marley began walking over, abandoning her backpack on the floor near his. The brunette girl sat across his lap with a grin and rested her hands on his shoulders, then leaned forward and connected their lips for a reassuring, adoring kiss, soon sealing it with a second peck-

"Uh, hello?" Tina exclaimed. The pair hadn't known that pretty much the entire club had started watching them from the minute Marley sat across Ryder's lap.

"Um… hi." Marley pulled away from Ryder and replied, keeping with the concept of nonchalance.

"Wow, it's been five minutes back in school and there's already drama."

"There's no drama-" Ryder started to butt in.

"A Cheerio and a dork having a public relationship in McKinley _isn't drama_? I don't know what you guys smoked in the summer, but it sure is getting to your head." The fellow clubber scoffed.

"Maybe we're trying to _make_ it no drama." Marley said calmly, though she didn't know how much more serenity there was left in her.

"Yeah, like _that's _possible." Sugar scoffed.

"Seriously, when did this happen?" Artie asked. More agonising questions followed, and even though the sight of Ryder getting more and more crimson was increasingly adorable, Marley hated this invasion of privacy. She was usually use to this, considering that when she was still very popular, these would be regular occurrences, but enough was enough, and her boyfriend was still extremely new to this kind of bombardment, so she finally lost her temper and yelled for them to shut up. Having been finally content with the quiet in the room, she persisted in telling them that even though it wasn't any of their business, she and Ryder _were _together.

"And if you could make as little a deal out of it as possible, well, that would be just perfect."

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><p><strong>Chapter one complete! I'm so happy to be back with this second instalment. I'll most likely right other things as well, and keep with my <strong>_**Anecdotes **_**story, but I must say: it's great to be back.**

**Please review, favourite and follow this story if you like it! I'd love some feedback :)**

**-Beth :)**


	2. The Rising Nerves

**Here's the second chapter :) I hope you enjoy it! **

**For various reasons, I've decided to time jump to a week before Sectionals – so around November. I also introduced a certain someone in this one…**

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><p>"Okay, so, mock all you want, but I'm just gonna come out and say what everyone's been thinking of this book since it first came out: Wuthering Heights <em>sucks<em>." Marley proclaimed as her shoulders slumped. "Firstly: Heathcliff is a freaking _psychopath _- I mean, what guy digs up his ex from her grave and hugs her? That's _beyond _creepy. And, secondly: why did they have to make it so damn confusing? Two Catherines, Linton and Earnshaw, how the book inexplicably switches to be in Nelly's point of view after the fourth chapter or whatever, and Jesus Christ, don't even get me _started _on the language. Like, I understand that it was written a million years ago or something, but I'm pretty sure that there are some things in that god-awful book that even the people back _then _wouldn't have understood. Like, there's this one line which I only recall because of its pure _ridiculousness_, where Nelly or someone said "Is it like?" and the reply is "Yes."What the actual hell? Is it like _what_?!" Marley gestured wildly in frustration, her eyebrows narrowed in confusion and anger as her boyfriend watched amusedly from a meter or so away, on the pink rug in the brunette's bedroom. "And then our English teacher – who, by the way, is one _hell _of a perv – goes and tells us we have to write an essay on it, and that the essay is worth _thirty per cent of our final grade. _No way am I getting into college after attempting to decode that awful thing that people call a book. It's like Mr Hanson actually, physically _hates _me."

Ryder just chuckled in reply. "Mar, you're overreacting."

"No, I am not." The blue-eyed girl groaned. "I just really, really, really, really, really hate Wuthering Heights."

"Come on," Ryder scoffed. "It's a classic novel."

"Yeah, more like a classic pain in my ass." Marley grumbled.

The boy sighed as he tried to think of more reassuring words that might put his girlfriend in a better mood. "You'll ace the test, Marley. I know you will. And Mr Hansen _loves _you."

"Does he? Because I think he's more interested in what size my bra is, from the looks of it." She crossed her arms as she straightened her back again, looking at the countless revision notes she had attempted to make in preparation for this exam. As of late, nothing much had stuck.

The brown-haired boy huffed once again, trying to think of more things that could lift her spirits. "Look. The essay deadline is a few weeks away, and I'll help you study as much as I can for it. I know you're struggling, babe, and I don't blame you for it at all, but everything will be okay, I promise. And hey, even if you do awfully and get a bad mark, you can always retake it."

Marley looked at him intensely for a few seconds, before her eyes strayed away from him once more as she breathed out deeply. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thank you." She stifled a smile before planting a soft kiss on his lips which he reciprocated. More kisses were bestowed on the young man's lips as the brunette crawled over, onto his lap – something that she did frequently, Ryder found - not that he minded.

When the pair finally parted, the girl grinned as her eyes fluttered open to gaze at him, then the small space between their chests. After a while of listening serenely to the sound of his steady breathing, she finally spoke: "I'm glad we can do this without people staring at us." Ryder nodded in response.

It was something that the two hardly ever spoke of, but it was far from invisible and they both knew it. Since coming out as an official couple at the beginning of the school year, sniggers and stares were still aimed at the pair unsubtly as they walked hand in hand and stole _very _short kisses in the hallway; in all honesty, Marley was just glad it was nothing worse yet, but deep inside she was afraid for what would come – she was petrified for anything else that might happen, since it had only been the first few months of the entire school year. She knew very well that just because there was a silence, it was never going to be a permanent silence.

Ryder saw her expression drop over seconds since she uttered the words and brought up a conversation that was probably better avoided, so, in his usual good-guy nature, he tried to change the subject quickly, delving into his mind and hunting for something as quickly as possible that would lift the atmosphere. "So, how are rehearsals for Sectionals going?"

Marley sighed in response – Ryder thought that would be the only response he would get, but luckily, the cheerleader finally found words. "I'm nervous, I guess. Which is stupid. But yeah." She bit her lip.

"You're gonna be awesome, though," Ryder hummed in response as he smiled, hoping she would do the same, and kissed her quickly to lift her spirits. She sighed again.

"Only if my serenity is in check," She giggled. "I have so much to worry about."

"Like what?" Ryder insisted she reminded him.

"Well, I'm soloing the opening number, I'm basically choreographing the entire number too, my song choice is pretty appalling, it's my first show choir competition, due to popular demand I've included a demanding move in my solo which as of late I am struggling with… and my Cheerios sectionals competition is in the same week. So only a few things to be worried about." Marley teased as she conjured up the ideas in her head.

"Hey, listen to me," Ryder said as he ran his hands up and down her waist and hips soothingly. "You're gonna be fine. It's totally normal for you to be nervous about these things, but you don't need to worry, okay? I know you. I know how talented you are. And, more than anything else, I know that you can nail all of those things you just listed, as long as you keep a positive mind-set an as long as you remember that even if those things don't work out, it's okay. And I'm always here for you." Ryder grinned as he spoke the words meaningfully.

The girl beamed, suggesting that the boy's grin was contagious. "Thank you."

"Anytime." The boy said in return, leaning in for another kiss.

"I'm glad I can count on you and your corny motivational speeches to get me out of the dumps." Marley mumbled against his lips.

"Ssshhhhh."

"Maybe we should keep our distance. Your dorky cliché-ness is going to rub off on me soon." Marley joked in between kisses.

"What do you mean "_soon"_?" Ryder teased, earning a playful slap on the arm in response. "So, Cathy, are you ready to get back to studying?"

"_Do not _call me Cathy. I want nothing to do with that poor excuse of a novel." Marley retorted in false rage as she slid off his lap and back onto the hot pink rug.

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><p>"Sectionals!" Mr Schuester exclaimed as he wrote the word on the whiteboard at the front of the room in large, capital letters; everyone else clapped and whooped at merely the word, all except one – the brunette clapped along so to add to the crowd politely, but was having difficulty when trying to overcome her several worries. As a result, she only half-listened as Mr Schue went on about how they needed to work as a team and should channel all energy into their performances, the words all becoming a blur, eliding and growing ever meaningless… she had heard the speech thousands of times for different occasions, anyway. Upon hearing her name woven into Mr Schue's next sentence, she listened a little more intently, but still very much in a daze.<p>

"Now, Marley has told me that work on her solo with the girls is going great, with only a few more things to polish, and the other group numbers are coming along well, but I think that there still might be work to be done before we are guaranteed a Sectionals trophy – after all, the competition is only a week away." He paused, looking thoughtfully at his audience, before a peculiar grin crept onto his face, his voice booming. "That said, I brought in an old ND alumnae to help us prepare ourselves for Sectionals. Some of you might know her, she graduated two years ago… so please, put your hands together for the one and only, Miss Santana Lopez!"

"Santana Lopez?" Marley's eyes widened, accompanied by her head snapping up from her lap and, within seconds, the Latina girl herself was walking into the room wearing one of her casual, albeit criminally tight dresses. Upon seeing the older girl in the flesh, her eyes widened impossibly further and she screamed, shocking everyone in the room - it caught Santana's attention, at least. Santana instantly swept her eyes across the room as she stopped in her tracks, prepared to slap whoever the source of the irritating noise was, but when her eyes landed on a girl dressed in a Cheerios costume, a girl she hadn't seen since her senior year of McKinley, her mood suddenly capsized into something lighter.

Soon, it was her turn to yell. "Oh my God, Marley?!"

Marley nodded excitedly before instantly jumping up from her seat and darting to the older girl, engulfing her in a tight hug which Santana instantly returned as they mumbled "oh my God"s and "what are you doing here"s into each other's hair, oblivious to the perplexed looks they were receiving from the other people in the room. When the younger girl finally pulled away, she didn't even look around the room before she began chatting animatedly and at a fast pace to Santana, who replied matching her speed; it was only when someone unsubtly coughed in their direction that they pulled away from each other completely and acknowledged the others in the choir room. Various confused expressions saw Marley explaining everything.

"Basically, in the Cheerios, everyone is assigned an older mentor so that the team is closely-knit and better at performing together and all friendly and whatever at practises so that someone doesn't "accidentally" drop someone off the top of the pyramid at pep rallies…" Marley smirked rather darkly, before shaking her head. "Not the point. Anyway, when Yours Truly joined the squad as a budding young freshman, her assigned mentor was none other than Santana Lopez, who was just starting her junior year. We clicked instantly – no surprise." For comedic affect, Ms Lopez bowed at the mention of her name, as the sea of confused faces soon washed away gradually upon the brunette's explanation.

"Ahhh," Santana grinned somewhat philosophically, "I remember getting her started on her first contraceptive back in her ripe old freshman year…" Santana reminisced thoughtfully out loud, earning a playful slap from Marley.

The thing is, Marley never knew that Santana was in Glee Club as a junior and a senior, or that she helped lead them to a Nationals victory. Then again, maybe she mentioned it once or twice… she wasn't sure. Likewise, Santana was more than surprised to learn that Marley herself had joined the club, and had bagged a long-term boyfriend who was also not her usual type (to emphasise the least). Santana was unquestionably surprised at the girl's unmistakably different personality.

"Listen," The older girl spoke in a hushed tone to the brunette. "We really have some catching up to do… are you free after school? Maybe we could meet at that coffee store that I'm surprised is still on its legs, yeah?" Santana smirked, earning a winning smile from her younger friend – coincidentally, the first one in a long time.

"Totally."

With that, Santana greeted her other acquaintances in the room, and a few new faces which she happily accepted (among these lay Ryder), before the club finally returned to their Sectionals preparations.

Seeing her old friend again at least took some of the weight off Marley's shoulders for a while.

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><p>"Okay, so you're telling me that as if Coach Sue didn't torture you enough, you have to drink <em>protein shakes <em>now?" The 20-year-old McKinley graduate guffawed as the beverage in question made its way out of Marley's bag in sachet form, the brunette playing with it in her fingers before decanting the powder into a plastic bottle filled with water and shaking vigorously.

The other girl's response came in between giggles as she shook the liquid. "It's a new thing she's trying out this cemester. She swears by these things, and thinks they'll improve our _"sloppy actions"_, so we have to drink these around the clock. They actually taste okay, surprisingly enough."

"Yeah, well, I'll be the judge of that. I've tasted things wild beyond your dreams, Rose. It's what Adjacent does to you." Santana said upon snatching the shake from Marley's fingers and taking a swig, before grimacing. "God, that tastes like it came from beneath my grandmother's toenails – how can you consume that on a daily basis?!"

The cerulean-eyed cheerleader chuckled at her mentor's verdict. "It's not _that _bad…"

"Oh, I beg to differ. You don't know what's in those God-awful shakes, Mar-"

"Protein and the essential and additional vitamins I'll need to survive through the Cheerios?" Marley sneered in reply. "Gimme." The Latina girl let the shake out of her grasp, taking a long swig of her coffee to clear the taste away.

"Uh, ladies, no outside beverages in the Lima Bean," a pimple-infested teenage worker echoed apprehensively upon approaching the two girls, who sat down on a small table in the café. The squawky teenager then turned to Marley, who batted her eyelashes at him. The boy's next response was a simple "Never mind" as he giggled and sniggered, sauntering off in his nervous state, cheeks reddening.

Santana didn't hesitate to roll her eyes. "Ugh, boys. So _disgusting_. It's people like Mr Chuckles over there that make me relieved that my lady loins don't operate that way." She reclined back into her chair, sipping her coffee. "And aren't you forgetting you have a _boyfriend_, Rose?"

"Oh, please." Marley chuckled as she sipped on her shake. "That wasn't anything that he should be afraid of. I love Ryder, and he loves me."

"Alright, Mar. Enough with the sappy stuff – you've already sucked the life out of me with your nauseating account on the events of your junior year." Santana spoke uninterestedly, inspecting her nails. The two had been at the Lima Bean long enough already for Marley to tell her everything about last year, catching her up on every little detail – despite the older girl's current emotions, she listened intently and interrupted where necessary along with every inch of the storyline. In return, the brown-eyed girl had told her all the details on her adventures since graduation, focusing particularly on the events happening within her college in New York City. "But I will admit, you and Four-Eyes-Donkey-Teeth are adorable."

"And I will look past the malicious overtones of that comment and say thank you." Marley grinned in return.

There was a moment's silence – a rare occurrence between the girls – as Marley sipped on her protein shake and Santana considered the next lead to the conversation. Another item to add onto the long list of things the two girls had in common, was their gossipy and flirtatious nature, so it came as no surprise that the 20-year-old was growing tired of their PG conversation.

"Okay, let's skip all of the fluffy, goody-goody feelings that I have now discovered you have… and let's talk about the saucy stuff."

Marley paused mid-sip and slowly lowered her drink. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Mar, come on. How is he?"

"How is he… what?" The brunette insisted, her face threatening to turn red.

"Do I really have to spell it out for you, honey?" Santana spoke nonchalantly, while Marley's eyes never strayed from the girl. With a magnificent sigh and a roll of her eyes, the brown-eyed girl spoke again, arching one eyebrow. "How is Care Bear… in the sack?"

The complete opposite to how the girl would have reacted a year ago, Marley began blushing violently and giggling. "You're… I…"

"Wow, he's really that good-?"

"I. Um." Were Marley's next stutters as her eyes darted from side to side once, then flickered down to the disorientated tassels on her Cheerios skirt.

Santana's face stiffened. "I totally saw that look. What's going on?"

"We haven't done it yet, okay?" Marley blurted out. "We haven't had sex yet."

"What?" Santana howled in surprise, her eyebrows narrowing.

The cheerleader sighed and prepared herself for another row of stutters. "We're- I'm-… he's not ready yet. And, surprise surprise, I actually care about this one, so… we're taking it slow."

Unfortunately, the older girl couldn't help the cackle that erupted through her mouth as she threw her head back. With every laugh, Marley's face grew more and more crimson, keeping her mouth clenched shut as she tried to mask her feelings by taking another swig of protein shake. She inwardly scolded herself. Was this all she had become - a girl who wore her heart on her sleeve?

Once she had calmed down at last, Santana looked at Marley and finally saw the damage she had done. "Jesus, you're the same colour as your uniform…" Santana observed and, as Marley's eyes cast downwards, the girl sunk back in her chair. "Crap, you're actually serious. I'm _so _sorry…"

"Hey," Marley tried to giggle the fiasco off. "It's okay, seriously. I know I've changed a lot since you last saw me, but… it's for the best, I promise."

"I know it is. Sorry." Her friend insisted. "So… Four Eyes really isn't ready?"

"Um, can we change the subject, please?" Marley averted, taking another sip from her shake.

And with a final eyebrow raise and a smirk, Santana obliged.

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><p><strong>Second chapter is done! I hope you liked this one. As always, reviews are most welcome ;)<strong>

**Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MELISSA BENOIST! My inspiration :') and omg she FAVOURITED MY TWEET ABOUT WISHING HER A HAPPY BIRTHDAY. I WAS TREMBLING. NO JOKE.**

**For those of you who are interested, or not… my Twitter is: bethha_ :-)**

**Until next time, **

**Beth :-)**


	3. The Competition

**Here's chapter 3 aka the Sectionals chapter!**

**For the visual aspect of things, the outfits are Season 4's Sectionals ones – the black and gold dresses and suits. I loved them so much and they're honestly my favourite outfits that the NDs have ever worn, so of course I had to introduce them in here. Enjoy :-)**

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><p>Marley tried to steady her shaking hands as she gazed into her lap during the turbulent bus drive to Carmel High School, nerves beginning to take over, but, alas, nothing worked to calm her. It didn't matter how many times she repeated dance moves or song lyrics or reassuring words over in her preoccupied brain, the queasy feeling never strayed from her stomach, pumping through her veins, only loudening the dancing voices which frantically yelled over each other in panic inside her head. She groaned inwardly, hitting her head against the cool glass window of the bus and securing her coat further around her body at the subsequent chill that erupted down her spine.<p>

Her shiver was not unseen by Ryder. He sat next to her on the bus, contacts replacing his glasses in preparation for the event about to take place at Carmel High. He was nervous, to say the least – memories of the last time he had performed, at Nationals, were occupying his thoughts - but she had a right to be just as nervous. He knew how it felt to have everyone resting their hopes on you. It was him last time, with his solo at Nationals, and now it was her – at her first show choir competition – and she was the main attraction after their 11th place failure in LA. It was only Sectionals, but it was crucial at this point, and everyone relied on her to give them energy; to get through this round and have a shot at redeeming themselves at Nationals.

Her happiness was always priority, and even if he made her just a little bit happier than she was, he would consider that to be better than nothing at all. It was for this reason that the seconds she was sad were agonising, and something needed to be done, so he did the first thing he could conjure up in his mind: he reached for one of her cold pale hands, previously resting in her lap, and took it into his large ones, instantly warming it up.

At the touch of warmth, Marley lifted her head off the glass window and turned to him, giggling nervously. She knew what he was doing. Usually, at times like these, it would have lifted her spirits tremendously – now, though, it was a different matter.

Sensing her still-heavy spirits, his mind compelled him to say something to sooth her more. "Please know that there isn't any pressure on you. It may seem like we're a bunch of weird geeks who want nothing more than a Nationals trophy, but if you're not comfortable or you mess up, we're not going to eat you alive." He joked, chuckling, hoping she would do the same. She did, though not as relaxed as he would have hoped. "You're not going to screw up anyway. I mean, just think about what happened on Tuesday – you were _flawless_. And I don't have a single doubt that you will do the same here."

The Tuesday that had just passed marked the success of the Cheerios in _their _Sectionals championship. Of course, with Coach Sue as their leader, no one expected any less – nonetheless, Ryder had still gushed about it non-stop to make Marley more confident and to prove that she was more than capable of securing another Sectionals trophy. Marley was still to be convinced.

"Yeah, yeah… sorry. I guess I just need to focus." She reassured herself more than reassuring Ryder, nodding her head hurriedly to confirm some sort of satisfaction before plastering on a winning smile and looking Ryder in the eyes – she always was a good actress, and that came in handy now when she was this ridiculously vulnerable. Marley had cheered on McKinley when they went against Carmel High in sports games, but now, she was actually _competing. _That, alone, terrified her.

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><p>With only a minute to go until their performance, Marley sat at the wing of the stage, nibbling on her lip after the club's warm up and show circle; she couldn't bear the seconds ticking away. Seemingly, it was obvious, as Ryder stopped his conversation with Unique to check on her, and kneeled down in front of her in dismay of her despondency.<p>

"Marley, baby, you're gonna be fine-"

"But fine isn't good enough… it has to be _perfect._" Marley stuttered, then rolled her eyes. "Jesus, I haven't been this nervous for anything since my first Cheerios competition."

"You _will _be perfect, Marls. I know you will, and you always are. You're gonna destroy this." Ryder soothed as he looked into her eyes. "You said this is one of your favourite songs, right? And you could do it in your sleep?" To this, Marley nodded violently, as if trying to assure herself rather than to answer Ryder's question. "Then you'll do an amazing job. I've seen it, Mar. The dance moves are to a T, the singing is on point… you just need to embrace it and be confident. Can you do that for me?"

After a while, Marley bit her lip, just looking into his eyes, then gave a firm nod. "Yeah, yeah, I can do that."

Ryder grinned. "Good." With that, he leaned forward and lifted himself up from his knees to give Marley a reassuring, loving kiss on the lips that lasted several seconds, only cut short due to the overhead speaker as the event's commentator spoke animatedly and boomed across the area. Marley instantly looked at Ryder with a panicked expression etched across her face. "Ry…" She whimpered.

"Just remember what I said, okay?" Ryder cooed as he led her off her seat by her hands, which he was still grasping. "You look beautiful, and you're going to be amazing. Good luck, okay?"

"Okay." Marley sighed, then smiled and took her place by the wing, reluctantly letting go of her boyfriend's hands. "Thank you, Ry. So much."

"No problem." Ryder smiled warmly as he backed away from the wings, letting the girls of the group in front of him for their number. "Don't be scared, remember! Just embrace and enjoy it!"

"I'll try!" Marley giggled, before hearing Mr Schue shush everyone and begin to count the girls into their cue.

As the old-sounding string instruments that played a starring role in the beginning of the introduction boomed through the auditorium, the New Direction girls – Tina, Marley, Sugar, Katie and Unique – entered from both sides of the stage, hands on hips, strutting further onto the stage with the music. When they finally assembled, two girls each were at either side of Marley, who was in the middle, forming a diamond shape in the centre of the stage on the various steps. As the violin part ended, the girls settled in their spots with their heads down. The drum hit, that powerful first time. Their heads snapped up. As the guitar and drums lead the intro, the girls began separating further, doing simple yet exciting choreography to the music in sync as Marley walked down to the front of the stage, acting nonchalant, inspecting her nails with a hand on her hip, before the singing part began and she joined in with the energetic choreography as she began to sing with attitude.

_I'm in the business of misery,_

_Let's take it from the top._

_She's got a body like an hourglass, it's ticking like a clock._

_It's a matter of time before we all run out,_

_When I thought he was mine she caught him by the mouth._

_I waited eight long months,_

_She finally set him free._

_I told him I couldn't lie he was the only one for me._

_Two weeks we caught on fire,_

_She's got it out for me,_

_But I wear the biggest smile._

_Whoa, I never meant to brag,_

_But I got him where I want him now._

Now in a line across the stage, facing the right, the girls sank down to their knees whilst fanning themselves with their left hand, adding to the tenaciousness and vivacity of the routine.

_Whoa, it was never my intention to brag_

_To steal it all away from you now._

As the girls body-rolled back up, they moved with the hard drum in sync – from Marley, no one expected any less.

_But God does it feel so good,_

_'Cause I got him where I want him now._

_And if you could then you know you would._

_'Cause God it just feels so..._

_It just feels so good._

A simple sashay of hips from side to side in unison - to the guitar riff and drum beat - at the end of the small introduction to the second verse was all it took before they moved on to different, equally electrifying choreography.

_Second chances they don't ever matter, people never change._

_Once a whore you're nothing more, I'm sorry, that'll never change._

A shrewd lyric, and to it, Marley faked innocence within her dance, slightly different to the other girls.

_And about forgiveness, we're both supposed to have exchanged._

_I'm sorry honey, but I passed it up, now look this way._

With that, the blue-eyed girl pointed to the other side of the stage, where the other New Direction girls were, dancing and donating their vocals to the background. As she continued singing, she walked over to join them.

_Well there's a million other girls who do it just like you._

_Looking as innocent as possible to get to who,_

_They want and what they like, it's easy if you do it right._

_Well I refuse, I refuse, I refuse!_

_Whoa, I never meant to brag_

_But I got him where I want him now._

_Whoa, it was never my intention to brag_

_To steal it all away from you now._

_But God does it feel so good,_

_'Cause I got him where I want him right now._

_And if you could then you know you would._

_'Cause God it just feels so..._

After ending her high note and hearing the wolf-whistles of the crowd, she walked slowly during the brief, calm moment to her next position on the stage, near to the right wing. And there he was, beaming at her performance albeit slightly nervously, but it gave her a warm, fresh feeling in her stomach. He was endlessly fascinating. That thought alone was enough for her to break character just for a second and grin uncontrollably as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, soon biting her lip, trying to regain composure as she sang the next lines sweetly.

_It just feels so good._

Simple hand actions were all that accompanied the four lines before the climax of the song, sashaying hips and singing winning harmonies as the girls danced together in perfect unison. All Marley could think of now was the dreaded instrumental section.

_I watched his wildest dreams come true_

_Not one of them involving you_

_Just watch my wildest dreams come true_

_Not one of them involving..._

As the instrumental hit, the girls danced with more complex choreography which, thanks to the torturous dance rehearsals, they all executed perfectly. Marley swung her hips as she walked to the left of the stage, before she stood in her position, facing the wing. Feet shoulder width apart, heart pumping, she was ready.

As the guitar part climaxed, she took a deep breath before flipping herself over onto her palms, using her handstand as a boost to flip herself back over, onto her feet. She repeated the action a second time, and on the third flip, she missed out the hand boost, flipping straight back onto her feet - all by the end of the instrumental part. She sang with an extra, much-needed boost of energy courtesy of her present performance rush.

_Whoa, I never meant to brag_

_But I got him where I want him now._

_Whoa, I never meant to brag_

_But I got him where I want him now._

_Whoa, it was never my intention to brag_

_To steal it all away from you now._

_But God does it feel so good,_

_'Cause I got him where I want him now._

_And if you could then you know you would._

_'Cause God it just feels so..._

The girls walked into the centre, reforming the diamond shape from the very beginning of the song, with Marley in the middle.

_It just feels so good._

Looking down as the last drum beat hit, hands secured behind their backs as cheers erupted from the audience, causing Marley to crack a smile as she tried to get her breathing back to normal. She rearranged her left hand into a thumbs up behind her back; the girls behind her noticed, and stifled a small chuckle which wasn't noticeable to the crowd. It was then that the remaining members of the New Directions – the boys – united with the girls on the stage, ready to move on with the remaining two songs of their set.

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><p>Almost two hours later, and the cerulean eyed teenager was stuck. She had come to an impasse, and couldn't quite decide on two particular events.<p>

Which was better: winning Sectionals, or the two minute long hug from Ryder which followed immediately after?

Of course, the stereotypical holding up of the trophy, cheering, jumping up and down and hugging every member individually took place as soon as _"from McKinley High School, the New Directions!"_ was called out. Afterwards, though, when the show choirs had exited the stage, Ryder caught up with her again, whispering a simple "I told you that you could do it" amongst all the cheers and songs that bellowed through the halls as the group made their way into one of the classrooms of the high school which acted as their green room. It was those 8 words, along with a soft kiss planted on her cheek, which triggered the hug the minute they arrived in the classroom.

"Thank you." Marley would whisper into his shoulder occasionally.

"Don't thank me, it was all you." Ryder would chuckle back, kissing her head.

And for two minutes straight, that was how they stayed – him stroking her back and waist, her giving him comfort with her body, puffing out the calmest breaths there ever were against his black button-up shirt and waistcoat, and it was serene; it was tranquil, and after weeks of stressing, it was what they needed. So, when the time came for the two to pull away, it was an act of reluctance, but their embrace was not completely over.

"Hey," The chestnut-haired boy spoke softly into the air between them, causing Marley's eyes to flicker up towards him. With false eyelashes now in place, her ocean-blue eyes were even more captivating. With her attention gained, he edged towards her with one arm still encompassing her at the waist as he moved his other hand up, caressing her cheek with his thumb, leaning closer and closer until their lips connected softly. Marley, upon reciprocating the gesture, placed her hands on his chest as the pit of her stomach gained a fluttering sensation – the duration of the kiss was long, but not as long as the second one which the brunette initiated afterwards.

"We should… uh…" Marley said in a hushed manner once the second kiss had ended, seemingly in some sort of hypnotic trance at how her hands moved up and down his waistcoat. "…Get back to… the thing…" she finally spoke as her eyes fluttered back up to focus on him, biting her lip as she broke out into a grin, triggering Ryder to match her expression. Apparently, though, the post-euphoria was premature, because it wasn't until after two more kisses that Marley finally lead Ryder by the hand into the middle of the classroom, where all other New Direction members were celebrating and taking turns holding the trophy. This was considered a privilege by the brunette. Despite having been head cheerleader, even the highest role of the Cheerios was in no position to even lay a finger on a trophy that the squad won – Coach Sue would immediately take them to be re-polished and re-buffed, before finally earning a spot in her cabinet, which remained untouched by everyone apart from the Coach herself. It was yet another reason why, to Marley, Sectionals felt like one of the biggest achievements of her life to date.

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><p>"First things first, congratulations!" Mr Schue chuckled throughout the choir room, causing cheers as he gestured to the Sectionals trophy, now standing proudly in the room's glass cabinet for all eyes to see. "I must say, there was no question – the score sheets revealed that you guys rocketed ahead of the others – and that is a huge success! Hats off, guys. I mean it." He then spoke sincerely, triggering a reassuring squeeze of Ryder's hand, courtesy of Marley Rose. The special treatment she had been getting over the past few days was spoiling her, yet making her feel more adored with every second; frankly, she adored it.<p>

Once the group had settled down, Mr Schue plucked the cap from the board pen and moved to the whiteboard, about to write something, when a knock silenced the room.

"Am I interrupting?" An Indian accent echoed through the room, initiating Mr Schue to stifle a chuckle.

"Of course not, Principle Figgins. Come in."

"I just wanted to stop by and congratulate you all on your fantastic win at Sectionals." Principle Figgins said animatedly, booming through the room. "I have a little treat for you in return." As soon as this was said, an ocean of excited whispers erupted throughout the teenagers as they drum rolled onto their laps, excitedly, Marley even letting go of Ryder's hand for a brief moment so she could join in. "Well, I feel that your rocketing success would simply not go unnoticed by more people, so… you will be performing your set, costumes and all, to the entire student body, this Friday… I couldn't resist giving you the opportunity, seeing as more people should know how talented you are. See you all on Friday." With that, he was gone.

The choir room exploded with excitement and passionate chatter about the upcoming event that was just confirmed, each indulging in compliments and talkativeness before Mr Schue could stall the meeting no longer, and they would actually have to prepare something.

All except one.

Instead, the blue-eyed teenager sat motionlessly, staring helplessly into the distance with a look of panic, trying to comprehend everything that had taken place within the space of about 45 seconds. It was uncalled-for; it was meaningless to her – and performing with the _Glee Club _and her _new boyfriend _in front of the entire school, including all of the people who torment her? It was terrifying. Her heart dropped into her stomach, making her feel ten tonnes heavier as all of the people around her continued celebrating, even singing and dancing a bit in their sets while she sat as motionless and as cold as stone.

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><p><strong>Dun dun duuuuuun… more drama to come next chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, though, and please review if you can spare a few seconds!<strong>

**Of course the song is **_**Misery Business **_**by Paramore… you probably could have guessed it would be a song by them, knowing me…**

**Sorry for any errors – GCSEs are both physically and mentally draining, but I finished my first piece of English Language coursework so it's okayyy. And sorry that this wasn't my best chapter, along with everything else, I have a severe case of writer's block but wanted to get this out so that the timing was parallel-ish to real life. **

**Until next time,**

**-Beth :-)**


	4. The Consequence

**Back with chapter 4! Sorry if this chapter is a bit shorter, but a lot happens.**

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><p>"Uh, can I talk to you for a second, Mar?"<p>

The girl in question, although trying to hold back vomiting due to her nervous state, smiled warmly upon hearing that voice. "Of course. What is it?" Saying these words, Marley put down her mascara brush and swivelled around in her seat, where she had been nervously applying her makeup with a quivering hand, and looked up at Katie. Upon seeing the blonde's anxious expression, Marley's face became more concerned. "Sweetie, don't worry. This is an opportunity for the school to finally see and appreciate your talent-"

"It's not that." Katie instantly dismissed.

"Oh…" Marley's eyes widened. "What is it?"

"I… I just… I keep having these thoughts… like, I know you are totally a friend. Honestly one of my best ones…"

"Same here, Katie." Marley chimed in with a grin as she clasped one of Katie's hands in hers supportively.

"Yeah," Katie breathed with a smile, although Marley could still see something was up. "But, I don't know… I've been having these thoughts lately, and I've been seeing the connections and… I…" The blonde sighed heavily before finally plucking up the courage to ask her question. "Is _Misery Business _about me?"

Marley was taken aback. "W-Why would you think that?"

"I don't- I… I dated Ryder about the time you hit rock bottom, and maybe you thought that I stole him away from you and all that, but you finally have him and… it was _your _song choice, so I didn't know if it was just a coincidence that those were the lyrics or if you were being passive aggressive, or…" Katie trailed off, looking in every direction possible.

"What? No… no, no, no. I picked the song because I love it, and I frankly think I could kick ass with it at Sectionals!" Marley giggled, stifling a small chuckle from between Katie's lips. "I didn't pick the song because of you at all, Katie… When you and Ryder were dating, it hurt, obviously, but… I wasn't mad at you at all! I was madder at myself. Please don't think the song is about you, sweetie. Please, please don't. I see you as an amazing friend, and I'm actually so happy and glad that you're cool with all of this." Marley grinned.

"Okay… sorry, I have a habit of jumping to conclusions… it's- I… I just-"

"Hey." Marley said calmly to get Katie's attention and snap her out of her rambling. It worked. "It's okay. I do that too. And I don't blame you or hate you for thinking it at all. So, are you okay? I mean… are we still cool?"

"Definitely. Thanks, Mar."

"Good." The blue-eyed girl beamed. "Then let's go kill this set."

"Are _you _okay?" Katie asked after a few seconds. "I saw your face when Figgins came and told us about performing… are you scared that your old friends are gonna judge you or something?"

"Uh, to be completely honest… absolutely." Marley nibbled on her lip. "I mean, I don't want them to have this control over me anymore, and what happened last year is none of their business, and I know people who have gotten over everything but… I also know people who are just looking for a reason to bully me." Marley looked down and composed herself, trying to get her complexion (which had transformed into a fearful look in seconds) back to a neutral expression. Having done this, she looked back up to a concerned Katie and plastered a smile back on her face. "But I'll be okay. I promise. Now, I think it's time we join the other members for another awful, cheesy, nauseating _'show circle'_." Marley used air quotes on the last two words as her friend giggled in reply, pulling Marley off her chair to go and find the other members of the New Directions.

The brunette's eyes, threatening to gloss over at the thought of the events about to take place on stage, landed on her boyfriend and his landed on hers, connecting instantly. Upon reading her expression as a nervous and dejected one, he raised his eyebrows and mouthed: "Are you okay?"

Marley took a while before answering with a quick nod, although her facial features said otherwise. She still looked frightened as hell – even more frightened than when they were about to perform their set at Sectionals, earlier that week. She looked horrified at what was about to take place. With that thought in mind, he made his way around the circle that was forming, over to where the brunette was standing. Without saying anything, Ryder encircled his arms around Marley and gave her one of his signature bear hugs, which she reciprocated in seconds, winding her arms around his back and leaning her head on his shoulder, on her tiptoes. Ryder felt her quiver and whispered things into her hair to comfort her. When that didn't help, he pulled away and looked her in the eyes, placing his palms at both sides of her face and caressing her cheeks with his thumbs.

"Shh, shhh… don't cry, Mar. Tina would kill you if you ruined your makeup." Ryder joked with a small smile, which Marley tried – and failed – to return. Ryder sighed before whispering. "Look at me." And, alas, now that he was wearing contacts, it was even harder to escape his stare; she focused on his brown-eyed gaze, getting lost in it for seconds. "They can't touch us, Mar. Don't let them get to us. If they see us break, it'll just be another thing for them to tear at. And I don't want them to tear you – to tear _us _– apart. And they won't. Because we're stronger and more mature than they are, remember?" The girl looked from his right eye to his left, before sighing and looking down. Ever since the incident happened last year, her confidence had not quite risen back completely from its plummet. Ryder lowered a finger to her chin and pushed upwards softly, driving her to look back at him, before continuing. "You're so talented. And this event gives us an opportunity to show them just how talented you are; how you've changed into someone who's better. And I know there's a lot of pressure on you right now, and I'm not denying that… but… God, I'm gonna sound like Mr Schue when I say this…" That earned a sad little giggle from between Marley's lips as she listened to him, never straying from his eyes. "Use all this negative energy, all of this anger for what they did to you, all of this hate and worry, and channel it. Channel it into _Misery Business_, channel it into the rest of the set. Because you. Are. Unstoppable." Ryder finished his speech, looking into her eyes with a look of reassurance and promise, sealing everything he had said with a forehead kiss, as his lips moulded around a spot on her soft, pale temple. Marley closed her eyes and let out a shaky sigh, before biting her lip.

"Show circle time!" A member of the New Directions with long, brown dreadlocks – Joe, Marley recalled - hollered, causing everyone to rush more into the circle, making it whole.

"Ugh, I hate these damn things." Marley rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from Ryder, who placed an arm around her waist as everyone donated a hand into the middle of the circle.

"_Use all this negative energy and channel it…" _Marley thought to herself, mimicking Ryder's words as she stretched her left arm into the circle. And suddenly, all the worry – the voices in her head telling her she would mess up the backflip, or hit an off note, or mess up a dance move – evaporated from the pit of her stomach and turned to dust. It was all still very much there, but now, as she took her place at the wings of the stage after the group's pre-show ritual, it was slightly easier to ignore.

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><p>Marley traipsed down the hallways with an uncontrollable grin on her face that afternoon. As she strutted down the halls, she reminisced how things had gone since the New Directions performed their Sectionals set in front of the whole school. No one had teased her, or anyone in Glee Club for that matter, and frankly? It felt amazing. Like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders and now she could walk with her head high, after all these weeks of anxiousness. Maybe it was just her being naïve and ignoring any whispers behind her back, but she sure hoped not and it didn't really seem that way at all.<p>

It was the end of the day. Marley's fellow students looked at her and waved or smiled politely as they made their way back home; the brunette reciprocated. She certainly wasn't the most popular girl in the school, but she was definitely less timid and could finally relax. Besides, popularity was becoming a smaller and smaller part of her life… that's what she was trying to make of it, anyway.

Looking around her, witnessing the now-empty hallways, she contentedly put her books back in her locker after twisting in the combination, and, in turn, took out ones she would need for homework tonight, if she managed to do any at all after Ryder had dropped her back at her house this evening… and that thought made her grin impossibly wider. It was a Friday, therefore it was her and Ryder's date night; it had been that way since the beginning of their relationship. Yet another reason why this day could not get any better – or, any day for that matter. Because every day meant another occasion to be with the most charming, sweet, considerate, funny, polite, fascinating-

"Nice performance, Garbage Can." Came the sneer of a teenage boy, followed by the rustle of fabric, triggering Marley to surreptitiously peer around from behind her locker, expecting to see some jock waiting to slushie her in the face. Nothing. Marley assumed the voice must be coming from around the corner.

"I bet that good for nothing Cheerio was real proud of you." Arose another voice, and Marley shuddered at the harsh words. She recognised the voice slightly, as she thought she might have done with the other male voice. Then, her ears were violated once again by the sound that she knew instantly – the slam of a locker. Or, rather, something slamming _against_ a locker. "….Oh, and herself, for that matter," The voice continued to growl at the victim, "now that _she's _accepted your idiot group of misfits."

A cry bellowed through the hallway, accompanied by the sound of knuckles hitting skin.

The tormenters didn't stop there. Marley instantly felt a deeply unpleasant feeling sink down to the pit of her stomach as she heard several grunts coming from the target of the jocks, accompanied by the persistent sounds of banging and slapping.

"Please, guys, I never did anything to you." The voice of the victim rose into the brutal conversation in between groans, sounding unintentionally like a whimper, causing his bullies to guffaw. Marley tried to discover the source of all the voices, when something travelled to her ear canal and caused her to instantly drop the books she was cradling and abandon her locker completely:

"No, but your precious little girlfriend did. Didn't she, Four Eyes?" The third voice said in a rough tone.

That was all it took to connect the dots for Marley. She rushed around the corner and found a horrific scene: her boyfriend on the floor, back against the lockers, as three men with a letterman jacket each surrounded him, kicking, punching. Of course she was naïve. Maybe there were no insults thrown at her, because they were instead all pointed at _him_. Suddenly, the unpleasant feeling in her stomach was replaced with white hot anger as she clenched her jaw, nostrils flaring, eyes blazing. She began storming down the corridor, closer to the scene and unafraid.

"Hey!" She yelled, now just a meter away from everything that was happening, causing the four to look at her. She was small compared to the rest of them, but with her hands on her hips, she looked menacing nonetheless. The three tormenters began to smirk, thinking they could easily overpower her, but rather than wasting even a second talking, she started fighting immediately, socking the closest jock to her in the eye and not even watching him as he stepped back and cursed loudly. Instead, she made her way to the second one and punched him in the nose before using both her palms to push him into the locker opposite; the third jock was harder to overcome, but with a knee to his groin, he sunk down to his knees with a yelp. The brunette stood for a second, pleased with her work and breathless, but soon remembered the reason why the anger had overcome her in the first place. She turned to her right, and there he was – her boyfriend, lying there, looking up at her with an impressed look on his face, though more of his expression told her that he was still in great pain. His chest rose irregularly, his wheezes and heavy breaths echoing throughout the hallway.

Marley stepped closer to him before kneeling down on his level, centimetres away from his face. She looked at him, distraught, and moved her hand to caress his cheek. "Ry…"

The chestnut-haired boy replied with a low growl of protest when Marley's thumb pressed lightly over a patch of skin that was starting to bruise. Marley winced and drew her hand back, instead focusing on the damage done to him: his nose was bleeding, a bruise peppered his right jaw, a cut on the left side of his forehead was obvious - as well as one on his right cheek - and his lip was beginning to swell up, probably due to thrown punches. The skin surrounding his right eye, as well as its eyelid, was purple. Her eyebrows knit together, wondering where his glasses were; he read her expression instantaneously and pointed down the corridor with exhaustion. There lay the glasses, strewn on the floor further down the hallway, chipped.

The brunette looked at her boyfriend with pure sorrow as he looked weakly back up at her, and found herself swallowing down a lump that was now present in her throat, blinking back the tears that had finally arisen to her eyes. Why would someone do that to Ryder? "Let's go back to your place, okay? I'll drive. We can get you cleaned up there."

Ryder shook his head drowsily in reply. "Nuh… Mom's there. She'll talk. And I want your first official meeting with my parents to be a brighter occasion than this." Ryder chuckled as he slurred the words carelessly together, and Marley smiled for a moment, admiring his ability to lighten the mood even at the worst of times.

"Okay, let's go to mine instead." Marley soothed, to which Ryder nodded sluggishly.

"Use my car." The boy mumbled through swollen lips.

"Alright. But I'm driving, okay?" Marley insisted in a soft voice, brushing a bit of his floppy side fringe out of his eyes.

"Mhmhhph." Ryder responded. Marley took that as a yes – even if it wasn't, she was going to drive him either way.

Regardless of a few winces as Marley held his bruised arms to help him up, the boy limped down the hallways while helplessly leaning on his girlfriend, nonetheless standing surprisingly well. However, Ryder stopped the both of them as his gaze sunk to the floor, landing on his glasses. He was considering if they were broken for good or maybe they could still be saved. With that thought in mind, he keeled over with a grunt, extending his hand, trying to pick them up - nevertheless, kneeling down was something very painful to do at that moment in time, so Marley gingerly placed a hand on his shoulder and brought him back up.

"Let _me_." Marley cooed as she crouched down and retrieved the glasses, before standing directly in front of her boyfriend. Opening them up, the cerulean eyed teenager carefully slid them back onto his face, smiling sadly at the obvious mark down the right lens before standing at the boy's side again, lifting his left arm over her shoulders to support him as he began shuffling along with her helplessly. Luckily, Marley was strong, and kept him steady until she eased him into the passenger seat of his car.

Once she got into the driver's seat of his car, she couldn't help the tears that streamed down her face. Hastily wiping them away with a sniff, hoping that he wouldn't see her cry, she took out the key he had sloppily fished out of his pocket and given to her, and placed it in the ignition. She had to stay strong for him. It was the least she could do, after she had gotten him into this horrible mess.

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><p><strong>Yeah, sorry about that. I had that planned since I began the story… your faith in me will hopefully be restored in the next chapter, as it's short but sweet, and involves a flashback.<strong>

**Please review if you can, I'd really appreciate feedback!**

**Until next time,**

**Beth :-)**


	5. The Healing

**Sorry this chapter is a bit shorter, but it is packed with some fluffy stuff to even out all the angst (hopefully).**

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><p>"Here, I think this stuff will stop your cuts from getting infected…" The girl spoke softly, extremely contradictory to her usual tone and manner. The circumstances were different; it was the event that had triggered this change in the first place. As she mumbled the words, she took silent steps over towards the Rose's granite kitchen island, which stood proudly in the middle of the well-lit kitchen – or, what would <em>usually <em>be well-lit. Of course, the weather had wanted to adapt to the rather gloomy situations and – combined with the fact that it was November – it was dark, despite the time being only 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The injured teenager himself sat on this shiny kitchen worktop, as commanded by his girlfriend, who had now taken the position of a nurse in the hopes that she could make up for the mistakes of that day with her limited healing abilities. The nurse herself carried a soft cloth dabbed with some antiseptic that she had found in the medicine cabinet, and had later prayed would contribute to the healing of her boyfriend's wounds.

And, boy, was he in a state. His face was bruised and cut, his clothes sloppily hanging onto his frame as he looked dully at the floor. Given any other circumstance, he would try and squeeze his eyes shut whenever he felt pain, but now, the black eye and general soreness of his muscles prevented him from doing that; he had nothing else to do, so he just stared at the shiny, cream tiles that graced the kitchen's floor.

Upon reaching Ryder, Marley gingerly hooked a finger underneath his chin and lifted his face up, so that she could take a better look at where he needed the disinfectant. Slowly but surely, she began dabbing the sterilised cloth to his cuts, trying to work past the inevitable winces which hissed through his mouth at the sting, whispering apologies time and time again. She is guiltier than ever. She knows that it was her that got him into this position.

Desperately searching for something that might put that crooked half-smile on his face again, or at least deduct some of the pain, she found herself talking. "Listen," but, alas, she couldn't think of something that was unrelated to the topic, so instead, she spoke her feelings: "I don't ever want to get you into messes like this ever again. You didn't deserve one part of it… I feel awful, Ryder. It was all my fault."

The brunette should have known that the comment wouldn't get past Ryder in a heartbeat, and he was shushing her as soon as she finished her sentence, lifting his head up more whilst she still worked on his wounds. "It's not your fault, Marley. Those people who inconsiderately disrespected our relationship – it's _their _fault."

"Yeah…" Marley breathed. "But it's still mine as well. They wouldn't have targeted you in the first place if I hadn't gone and screwed them all over in junior year." She spoke in a scolding voice near the end, not towards Ryder, but towards herself. She was too naïve in thinking that her countless flings had no consequences afterwards, and it was even worse now that she had finally settled down with someone. "They're all my exes – they want to destroy my happiness no matter who I'm dating."

Her words caused a sad smile to form from Ryder's lips and a steady exhale from between them, hoping that the action alone would comfort her, seeing as his body was restricted. It was an action that she returned as she continued to dab at his injured skin, but it did almost nothing to heal her feelings.

"Ryder…" She spoke softly, having lapsed into silence for a few more minutes, giving her a lot of time to think and consider her mistakes. She looked at him, setting the cloth down on the counter for a moment, thinking about how she was going to say what she needed to. "I hate hurting you…"

"I'm not hurt-" The boy tried to convince her, to no use as she interrupted.

"Yes, you are." She insisted, trying to force the tears that were quickly forming to subside. "I feel like if we keep going on with this, all they'll do is just keep tearing us down and," she composed herself with a short breath, "all I care about is you, and I don't want you to hurt anymore, and maybe this is too much…" she tried to compose herself with a breath again, but instead it came out as a shaky one, so she continued: "…too much to continue."

It was out in the open. It was suggested. As it was released into the atmosphere, Ryder's blood turned cold and his jaw clenched. Finally, he asked: "Is… is that what you want?"

"Of course it's not what I want." Marley chuckled humourlessly. "I just want you to be protected, because _that's_ all I want." She bit her lip as tears glossed over her eyes for the third time that day, looking at him and trying to reassure him by running her hand up and down his thigh.

Ryder looked at her and sighed heavily, before sitting up more on the worktop and looking her in the eyes. "We agreed that this was going to be hard, Marls. I mean, look at us… look-… look at me! But we promised each other that we would try to stay strong, even when it got hard, like this. Are you still keeping your promise to me?"

"Yes… of course…" Marley cooed.

"Good. Because I am too." Ryder managed a small smile.

It was then that Marley regretted everything about what she had said, and tried to fix it with a poorly constructed apology. "I'm so sorry that I doubted us for a second, Ry." Marley said after a while. "I just… I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want _them_ to hurt you…"

"Well, then we have to show them that they can't do that. That our relationship is too strong for them to break." He said simply.

"Yeah," Marley breathed in agreement as she rested her head on his shoulder (one of the few places that wasn't bruised). "I love you, baby."

"I love you too." Ryder sighed, triggering Marley to press her lips softly against his, not too hard so that his swollen bottom lip would hurt, just right.

'I love you' wasn't something that was said often between the two of them, mainly because Marley was still trying to get to grips with the actual _feeling _of love; of actually _saying _the three words rather than just speaking them. Ryder didn't mind – he felt that the over-exaggeration and seemingly mandatory ritual of saying the three words at every opportunity was so mainstream that it was tearing the actual meaning from the words. It was for these reasons that the two settled for the ever-so-slightly more unconventional ways of expressing affection.

But, when they did say those three words, it was _always _as romantic as the first time.

* * *

><p><em>It was near the end of summer vacation, and the two were at Marley's house. The sun was just starting to set, and all the bugs were arriving in the sun's absence and landing, nipping at the two as they sat outside eating the Chinese food that they had previously ordered. They had spent the entire night laughing and messing around, being light-hearted, without any kind of density on them at all, and the outdoor lights that reflected onto the wooden patio in the back garden - looking out onto the luscious gardens that came as part of the Rose household - was the only light outside, apart from the slowly arriving stars that were gradually making an appearance in the kaleidoscope sky. The two had watched movies, played games, baked and even jokingly danced around in the dull kitchen light as it slowly began to get darker; they had spent the entire day together.<em>

_Marley twisted her fork around in the cardboard Chinese food box, swirling around the last of her noodles and chicken. She wore a simple white shirt with patterned denim shorts that hit high up her thigh, with her silky, brunette tresses styled up in a messy bun. Ryder wore a blue plaid shirt with jeans. It was modest – no extra effort was needed between the two of them - and Marley's face only sported concealer and mascara with a touch of blush, thus confirming the unspoken modest dress code between them. Marley raised a forkful of the food to her mouth, before slight irritation became apparent on her hand._

"_Jesus, these bugs…" Marley murmured as she later cursed under her breath, clutching the back of her hand._

_Ryder pouted at his hurt girlfriend. "Here, how about this…" He quickly said – the boy hated whenever she was the slightest bit unhappy, and tried to alter her emotions the minute such an emotion arose. With the words said and the brunette's attention gained, he softly grasped the girl's bitten hand and kissed the small lump that the insect had left behind._

_Marley grinned. "Awww, you are the sweetest. And the cheesiest, but whatever." She teased._

"_Shhh," Ryder chastised playfully, still planting kisses on the girl's barely injured hand. "All better?"_

"_Definitely." The cheerleader nodded, causing Ryder to let go of her hand and place it back where it was previously, resting on the wooden table. A simple action, but it triggered an emotion deep inside Marley that was desperate for his touch against her skin again. "Uh, I think my other hand just got bitten too…" she said, nibbling on her bottom lip._

"_Okay," Ryder beamed, kissing her other hand with the same deliberate and soft actions as before. He released her hand. She wanted more. _

"…_And my cheek, Ry." Marley pouted, leaning closer. At this point, the brown-eyed boy understood her implication and sniggered slightly under his breath, moving his lips to her cheek nonetheless and planting a soft kiss against her right cheek that lasted seconds longer than the others. Marley grinned in response to his touch, and soon enough, Ryder found himself smirking as ideas arose into his mind. With equal pace, he kissed the spot diagonally left of his previous camp on her cheek, parallel to the top of her lips, but still gracing her cheek. After a few more seconds, he kissed downwards diagonally left once more, on the corner of her mouth. Marley's eyelids fluttered shut. Extracting his lips again, he finally arrived at Marley's lips and kissed them more passionately, but with the same slow, deliberate actions as before. The girl kissed back in an instant as her hands grasped his instantaneously, intertwining their fingers like the perfect jigsaw. The two stayed like that, kissing, absolutely still as a chill began to waft along with the summer night breeze, giving Marley even more goose bumps than she already had. Finally, after an abundance of long seconds, the two pulled away in unison, and the girl's eyes flickered open again slowly. Ryder sat there, looking at her with admiration from the small distance between them on the wooden bench._

_Ever since their first kiss, Marley had felt different. Like with every second it lasted, her stomach was filled further and further with butterflies until she was frightened that her stomach may explode – it was the nicest kind of butterflies ever imagined. Out of the countless guys she had dated in the past, he was, admittedly, the best kisser. In fact, it wasn't just the kisses that gave Marley butterflies – it was the way he cared so much about her, or the way his face lit up whenever he was happy, or the way his face fell into concern whenever she was sad, or the way he ran his hands up and down her waist and hips to sooth her when she got stressed, or the way he laughed. It was something she hadn't felt before – something she always tried to convince herself she had with the other guys, but knew deep down that she would never feel. _

_Love._

_And that was enough to send Marley blushing, looking down at their laps in a fluster._

"_Mar?" Ryder said, soon becoming deeply concerned. Marley looked up for a second, seeing his face: filled with apprehension, with care… and it reminded her of her new discovery. Her head drifted back down. "Mar, are you okay?" He said next, and she chose not to answer. How could she say anything now? When he saw that that didn't work, he sighed and tilted her chin upwards, though she still looked down. "Tell me what you're thinking."_

"_I'm thinking…" The blue-eyed girl said finally, but sighed and squirmed at the thought of saying those three words for the first time to anyone. After a few more seconds of unbearable silence, she finally plucked up the courage to say what she needed to. "I'm thinking… I love you."_

_There were a few seconds then, when she finally looked up at him, where it felt like years were passing before her eyes, waiting for his response. Panicking. Regretting. Self-loathing. _

_It was then that he answered. Not by any words, but by fixing his hands over hers even more, intertwining their fingers again and giving them a reassuring squeeze. He then spoke words that were loud enough for only her to hear. "And I'm thinking… I love you too."_

_Marley inwardly let out a sigh of relief as her eyes warmed to his, and her hands squeezed hearteningly back. They leaned closer to each other in sync, connecting their lips with passion and gentleness. When they pulled away, they simply whispered 'I love you's to each other, reciprocating the other person, before holding each other closely. They were the only two things in the word._

_Well… them, and the bugs._

* * *

><p>When the two finally pulled away from their kiss, they simply looked at each other, blinking slowly and serenely. Marley bit her lip instinctively as her face scanned over his damaged one, her hands impulsively running up and down his chest soothingly as a healing mechanism.<p>

"Are you okay?" Ryder asked, caring as ever, concerned. He knew what emotions came with every one of her expressions.

His question caused a small giggle to erupt from between the brunette's lips. "Why are you asking _me _that?"

"I don't know…" He smirked in turn, winding his arms around her waist and running his hands from waist to hip – an action constantly carried out by him to sooth her. "I know that face that you had."

The brunette's eyebrows knit together. "What face?"

"It doesn't matter." Ryder chuckled. "Are you okay?" He urged, hoping he'd get an answer – and a positive one.

The blue-eyed girl grinned as she still nibbled on her lower lip before nodding firmly. "I'm okay."

"Good." The boy spoke simply as he looked at her, impulsively leaning forward to capture their lips, ardently but quickly.

"I think Nurse Marley's done for the day… wanna watch a movie?" The girl in question suggested as Ryder leaped off the kitchen island in response, taking her hand as they walked to the Rose's living room.

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><p><strong>Yeah, I couldn't have too much angst for too long, could I? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter – if you did (or if you didn't), please leave a review so I can get some feedbackconstructive criticism/whatever, because you guys are awesome and I love hearing from you all!**

**-Beth :-)**


	6. The Bitter Winter

**Hello again! Here's another chapter. Just for the heads up, we're a bit ahead of time in the Regaining Repose Universe, as it'll tell you in the first sentence – it actually begins in the last week or so before the Christmas holidays, and then, later on in the story, a few days before Christmas itself. The ads are on TV, so I'm using that as an excuse… I mean, if the John Lewis advert is out, it **_**must **_**be the season to be jolly, right?**

**Hope you enjoy :-)**

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><p>Monday morning, first of December, and Ryder pulled up to school in his simple, silver car, ready for what was sure to be a wretched day. That weekend, he had slept round at Marley's on the couch on the Friday and had left Saturday morning, excusing himself with the subject of homework and his parents. His girlfriend had been very much sceptical, and her caring attitude towards him never ceased; for that, he was grateful – he just hoped that she wouldn't continue to take what happened out on herself. If anything, it was <em>his<em> fault – or, at least, that's what he thought – because he was in the way of the jocks. Ryder knew that Marley kicked herself for letting him get injured. He had pretended that he hadn't seen her small breakdown in the car before she began driving to her house that Friday afternoon - instantaneously welling up with tears, wiping them away hastily – for her sake, but he wasn't stupid. He knew her. He knew she secretly wanted him to stay at her house on that Saturday for their safety, so she could try and get the thoughts out of her head by taking care of him. The boy would have stayed if he could, but he couldn't.

Resting his hands on the steering wheel for a moment, contemplating everything that had happened last week – the week that began so smoothly, and ended a disaster - a high from winning to two other show choirs in the area to a tremendous low from losing to the local bullies. Ryder checked his complexion in the rear-view mirror nearby: the scratches and cuts still remained on areas of his face (though less severe, thanks to Marley's nursing) as well as the bruise that graced the right side of his jaw (thought it was not as perceptible as it had been), his black eye was still very noticeable, but luckily his lips had gone back to normal from their swollen state. The chestnut-haired boy wore contacts instead of his usual glasses, as the specs he typically sported were under repair.

He was terrified of running into his tormenters. One of the reasons they picked on him in the first place was because he had gained Marley's attention instead of them, so he had to keep the girl under his wing – there wasn't a doubt in his mind that she'd want to give him similar treatment. With his heart pumping faster with every passing second, he reluctantly removed himself from his vehicle and swung his backpack over his shoulder, hissing slightly as a dull pain ached through his arm at the action. Gritting his teeth in worry and anticipation, he slowly made his way towards the school.

Just then, a car he knew very well – a grey Porsche – parked into a spot nearby; due to the family's wealth, it was casual to her. The Cheerio herself soon trudged out of her car and locked it after her departure, throwing the keys carelessly into a pocket inside her red, white and black backpack. As it was now winter, the brunette wore matching uniform pants underneath her cheerleading skirt, and a Cheerios jersey which she found herself securing around her torso further due to the chill outside. To accompany these, she wore a cosy, woollen, crimson coloured scarf which was woven around her neck and tucked into her jersey, though she still shivered against the freezing, foggy air that misted across the area of the school. Her eyes had lost their sparkle. Like the weather, they were chilling; she had experienced a tough week, too.

Her eyes drifted up to see him, causing her to crack a simple, concerned smile. "Hey, babe."

"Hey." He smiled, walking towards her as they made their way closer to school together, interlocking fingers.

"You're looking better…" Marley observed quietly, trying to cling onto the positives. "Are you feeling better?"

"I do feel a bit better," Ryder shrugged. "I'm still in a bit of pain, things still ache… but I'm doing okay."

"Good, good." She shivered against the cold air which slid down her back, using her free hand to adjust her scarf. Then, in an even more hushed tone, she added: "Ry, if you ever need any help today, with _anything_…"

"I know." Ryder dismissed, stopping in his tracks to face her. "And thank you for being so supportive and for nursing me this weekend. I really do appreciate it."

"Hey, what are girlfriends for?" Marley fanned the compliment away, giggling before leaning up on her tiptoes and kissing him chastely on the lips. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Ryder replied adoringly as Marley sank back down to her normal height and continued walking with him again – 'I love you' had become a more regular thing over the weekend, perhaps because of all of the events that had taken place. Perhaps Marley had finally accepted it.

"Hey, do we have Glee first thing?" The ocean-eyed teenager spoke up in between comfortable silences.

Ryder squeezed his eyes shut as his head felt like it was about to explode – he had forgotten about Glee Club. "Yeah…" he whispered, scolding himself for forgetting, thinking of everything all at once.

Marley, noticing his sudden aura of discomfort, used her other hand to stroke up and down his arm consolingly. "Hey, we don't have to go if you don't want to."

"No, no, no. Running away from these issues won't make it better – they'll hear the story from someone else, and that'll just make things even more complicated." Ryder insisted as they finally arrived at the school door. "Come on, it starts soon. Let's go."

Marley mumbled a sentence of obedience before walking into the warmth of the school, never straying from Ryder as they walked through together. People stared. He looked down. She looked menacingly at the glares in question, raising an eyebrow as if to say "what do you think you're looking at?" This expression only developed further when the culprits – one with a band aid over his nose, one with a black eye and the last jock with an evident limp – wandered past the pair in triangle formation.

Finally, with the help of his girlfriend, Ryder had assembled his books and the pair now ambled slowly towards the choir room. Upon arriving, Marley gave her boyfriend's hand a reassuring squeeze before the pair paced into the room. Everyone had already arrived, and there was a moment of peace that, predictably, was cut short.

"Woah…" Sam detected gloomily. "Dude, what happened to your face?"

This rather insensitive observation triggered a deep breath from Marley, who was determined not to yell at her friends. "After our performance on Friday, a few guys on the football team cornered him. I managed to fight them off when I saw what was happening, but… the damage was already done at that point."

"So… those three jocks with the bruises and limps – _you _did that?" Katie, who sat in the corner, answered in disbelief.

"I took a self-defence course last summer." Marley brushed off nonchalantly as Ryder sat down. "But this isn't about me. We're trying not to make this a big deal."

That comment didn't cease the questions. "When did this happen, exactly?" Blaine asked with a voice full of concern.

"After school. Most people had gone home, no one was around to watch." The brunette shrugged as she took a seat next to Ryder on the front row.

"Why did it even happen?" Artie asked quietly.

Marley sat motionless at that comment, not even turning her head to the side to look at the questioner. She knew why: they wanted revenge against her, because they were all victims to a sloppy ending of a fling; of total public embarrassment when they were dumped in the hallway by her. They wanted her unhappy –in the end, she supposed, they achieved that. "I don't even know." Marley chuckled humourlessly, thanking her acting abilities.

"But… why couldn't he have just escaped with a slushie? I mean, we've never been targeted with real, physical violence like that… the only thing any of us have come closest to is getting shoved into a locker, or something."

Apparently, Marley's wall against the truth was poorly constructed. "It must have been something more personal, something one of us must have done to one of them…" Tina smirked, basking in the glorious realisation of her new theory. The brunette felt Tina's eyes burning into the back of her head – Tina Cohen-Chang always did have a grudge against the Cheerio. "It was her."

At this point, Ryder's nostrils splayed as one of his hands subtly gripped harder onto the side of his chair, driving Marley to take a better look at him. His eyes were closed, like he was trying to concentrate on something, or to zap himself out of a situation. That was usually how he reacted to these situations, being introverted. Marley, though, seized her extroverted personality and used it to her advantage, turning around to Tina, who sat one row above her. "Excuse me?"

"I'm very good at remembering things…" The brown-eyed girl shrugged simply with a snigger. "You dated all three of those Neanderthals for one or two weeks at the beginning of junior year before proceeding to call it off in the middle of the hallway. You humiliated them. And now that you've settled down with someone – someone less popular than them, nonetheless – they want revenge. So they take it out on him with the full intention of tearing you two apart. Personally, I think it's ingenious." She sneered, crossing her arms before concluding her hypothesis. "Therefore, Ryder getting his face busted is completely, entirely, whole-heartedly, one hundred percent-"

"_Shut up!_" Marley surprised everyone by yelling and turning around to the intimidator in question. "Even if it was my fault, does something I did in my junior year even matter?"

"Well, it obviously matters to them-" Tina attempted a snarky reply, only to be interrupted by the other brunette again.

"I didn't mean that! I meant: should it even matter to _you_? I thought we were "family" in this God forsaken club, but by trying to reassure him, you're tearing _me_ down. It doesn't work like that, especially not if we're _dating_." She growled. "And if anything, it's _your _fault for accepting Principle Figgins' offer to perform to the entire school!"

"_Excuse me? _That performance was an opportunity for us! It was a chance for the other people at the school to see who we really are!" The brown-eyed girl retorted.

It was the brunette's turn for tough love. "You really thought that a stupid little performance would change other people's perspectives? Stop being so naïve. Everyone pins us as losers and that's how it's always been, so it's about time you accepted that."

"Even so, how _dare _you say that the fault was mine? You haven't even been in this club for a year. This time 12 months ago, you were still powering through every guy at this school! Besides… it would have happened sooner or later. You didn't think that you'd be tease-free for the semester, did you? You didn't_ really_ think that everyone had accepted that Beauty and The Beast were finally going out publicly, especially after everything that happened last year?" Tina retorted, gnawing at Marley's nerves.

That comment silenced their argument for a few agonising seconds, before the cerulean-eyed girl finally composed herself with a reply. "I admit it: it _was _my fault about what happened to Ryder."

"Babe…" The boy in question tried to object, but Marley broke out of character and firmly but kindly denied it.

"No, Ry, it was. They told you _face to face_ that it was." She spoke softly, before turning back to Tina and regaining composure. "Even though it was my fault, that doesn't mean that those jocks win. If anything, it pushed my already non-existent thoughts of giving those guys a second chance even further out the window. Those Neanderthals haven't gotten their revenge yet, and they never will."

"But their aim was to make you unhappy, right? So they _did_ win. You're all upset, and Ryder's face is all messed up. They achieved. They won." Tina countered.

"They didn't win. They just want me to go back to the way I was, but I'm never going back. I'm in a real relationship now, and I'm not going to screw it up." Marley tried to keep calm, looking at the Asian girl intensely.

This prompted a mocking chuckle from Tina. "Sorry, sweetheart, but how long is _that_ gonna last? Sugar and I have a bet going on about when you'll finally snap out of your daze and go sauntering off to have meaningless sex with the next guy you see!"

That comment silenced the room, and when the words finally travelled through Marley's ear canal and were comprehended in her foggy brain, instinct took control. Eyes sinister, nostrils flaring, she found herself standing up hastily from her chair and stepping towards Tina-

"Marls." A voice mumbled lowly as a hand made its way to her stomach, softly but firmly pressing against it to prevent any forbidden actions which would take place - the girl didn't have to move a muscle to identify the person as Ryder. She kept glaring at Tina, breathing heavily out of her nose as the boy rose to his feet, getting in between the two girls. "Mar, don't sink to her level. Don't let her get to you. You're lucky that Figgins is unobservant with his students, otherwise you'd already be suspended for fighting back those guys. If you start something up with her, it'll go on your permanent record, which already has one mistake on it. Another one, and you'll have to give up college. Marls, please don't do this – please don't do that to yourself. She's just trying to get in your head."

After a while, Marley finally took a step back, though still staring menacingly at her tyrant. Before Mr Schue finally arrived with apologies and previous whereabouts, she muttered something that she hoped would force enough distance between the two for a while:

"You haven't overpowered me yet, Harajuku girl."

* * *

><p>"Ready… go!" Marley said excitedly as she sat on her magnificently varnished coffee table in the household's living room, scanning her watch as the second hand struck twelve, signalling the start of another minute. It was the 23rd of December, and both of their parents had agreed for the two to spend today in each other's company, since both of the families were seemingly very busy during this time of year – this week in particular. The two, having finally found a boring moment in the day – between lunch and dinner – decided that it would be fun to try a new challenge – seeing how many mince pies they could eat in two minutes.<p>

Ryder began, hurriedly releasing the mince pie from its restrictive casing. He wasted no time in scoffing the pastry into his mouth, struggling as he attempted to chew and swallow the pie, as Marley witnessed in front of him, laughing.

"You've never been so attractive." Marley spoke satirically in between giggles.

"Shut up." Ryder just about mumbled through his mouthful. "Why can't you do this with me, anyway?"

Marley scoffed. "I'm on a _diet_, silly."

"You're on a diet at _Christmastime_?" Her boyfriend spoke, confused. "Why? What's the point?"

"The point is the Cheerios have a gig the week we get back after Christmas –and it's Sue's orders." The brunette girl explained, shrugging the matter off as she continued to look at her watch.

"But…" Ryder whimpered, trying not to spew pastry flakes onto his girlfriend – it was proving difficult. "It's, like, _Christmas_."

"I'm not gonna diet on Christmas _day_, you dork." Marley chuckled as if the matter was blatantly obvious. "Just… the other days."

Ryder looked like he was going to protest, and almost did, if he didn't feel like he was going to choke on his mince pie. They sat in silence for the rest of it – aside from the girl's continuous giggling with every attempted chew.

"Time's up, time's up!" Marley shrieked just as her boyfriend was trying to take another mince pie out of its case. She counted the poor pile of finished foil cases – it didn't take long. "Two?! You only ate _two _in _two minutes_?!"

"Shouldn't you be grateful? I mean, your boyfriend is a polite eater. It's everyone's dream." Ryder shrugged, struggling to stick up for himself.

"Sure." Marley sighed after a while, grinning hopelessly at him. It was her first Christmas where she was actually with someone that she cared about. Thinking about this, she lifted herself off the varnished mahogany coffee table and in his lap instead, connecting their lips briefly, pressing their foreheads together and looking into his eyes behind the distortion of his glasses (which he had finally gotten repaired). After a while, she spoke again: "Do you want to exchange gifts now?"

"Sure." He reciprocated, lifting her off his lap as she squealed, leaving briefly from the room to retrieve her present. Upon returning, he found her again as she sat with her legs crossed on sophisticated leather couch, grasping a sizeable present in her pale hands. "Is that… for me?"

"Of course it is, goofball." Marley rolled her eyes. "Now sit." He did as he was told, holding the considerably smaller present in his hands. The brunette's eyes transfixed on the item and it triggered a warm smile which Ryder couldn't help but see as pitiful. "Open mine first."

"Okay…" Ryder spoke wearily as he began ripping the bright wrapping paper from its interior, revealing the gift inside. A giddy laugh projected his reaction soon after. "Oh my God, you didn't."

"I did." Marley chirped, basking in the success that came with getting him a present he actually liked, when he was so hard to shop for. "Well, you kept going on about it, so I had to get it for you, didn't I?"

"I can't believe it…" Ryder said, turning the large book over and over in his hands – it was an autobiography about one of his favourite scientists and mathematicians, someone whom he looked up to – his post-gift delight and utter admiration as he examined the book filling Marley's stomach further with a fresh, blissful feeling. "Th-Thank you! God, I love you even more. Thank you."

"I'm glad you like it, I was really worried that you wouldn't…" Marley confessed, nibbling on her lip, earning another chuckle from her boyfriend, who sat opposite her on the same couch she sat on herself.

"In what universe would I not like this?!" Ryder questioned, completely confused as to why she might think that was the case. "Thank you." He repeated.

"Alright, alright. You're welcome." Marley finally accepted, leaning across to envelope him in a hug filled with warmth, getting as intoxicated as ever by his cologne as she buried her head willingly into his shoulder. Upon finally pulling away, the cerulean-eyed teenager squealed and clapped her hands at a rapid pace with much excitement. "My turn!"

"Here." Ryder spoke sincerely as he sheepishly handed over the tiny box. "I-I'm sorry it's not much, but-"

"Hey, don't judge a present by its size, right?" Marley assured him, playing with the actual saying as she carefully took the present from Ryder's nervous clutch.

She looked at its exterior – it was wrapped in simple green wrapping paper, then secured with red string, crossing over the top with a bow where all the strings met – it seemed to be wrapped nervously; there was a certain aroma of his anxiousness around it, especially when she flipped the small parcel over to reveal uneven pieces of tape securing the string and paper together. She smiled. Never had an inanimate object seemed so unmistakably like _him _– messy but beautiful, and hiding something that only she could open – and she opened it upon pondering on that for a while, sensing Ryder's growing nerves on her potential reactions. Once she had slid her finger under a bit of wrapping paper (loosely secured by the tape) and using that as a gateway to discovering the contents inside, she soon lay her eyes upon a white box. Looking up to her boyfriend one final time – seeing his eyes transfixed between the present and her, his lip bitten apprehensively – she slowly robbed the box of his lid. Awestruck.

"Ry…" Marley fumbled with language; with words, as she looked at his gift to her. "I can't believe you remembered…" She stared at the gift, captivated, mesmerised, fascinated as the boy began to sport a grin on his face.

"How could I forget?" Ryder arched an eyebrow in response, smirking as she took the present out of its casing.

"Easily!" Marley found herself giggling. "It was _months _ago…" She returned to a dreamy tone, reminiscing. The two had been walking in the park in summer and, when the time finally came to return back home, the two simply strolled along the streets of Lima, gazing drowsily into the countless shop windows, enthralled by the countless lights around them now that it was finally getting darker. When the two had strolled by the local jeweller's, the brunette couldn't help but stop in her tracks to admire each diamond, each gem, each silver masterpiece in the window, puffing out little sighs and breaths which settled as condensation on the window. A particular piece caught her eye – a small necklace which would only settle below the collarbone, with a small, silver outline of a peony. It sat sadly in the cramped corner of the shop window and an old tag hung loosely off it, depicting its cost as considerably less than the other, more extravagant jewellery items in the shop's window. Marley, at the time, had pointed this out and had said instead that the necklace was her favourite – after all, simplicity in jewellery was often her style, and peonies were her favourite flowers. She had left the sight of the shop with some reluctance that evening, and it had been on Ryder's mind ever since. "I can't believe you actually remembered…" Marley repeated, before focusing her gaze on him once again, a huge grin spreading itself across her face immediately. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you so, so much!" Marley showed a fraction of her gratitude and engulfed him in a hug immediately after this, with Ryder not hesitating a second to reciprocate the gesture.

"No problem." He chuckled into her hair at her grand sign of appreciation.

Upon tearing away with hesitancy, Marley looked at him. "Can you help me put it on? And then I can show Mom before we have dinner."

"Sure" The chestnut-haired boy agreed as Marley leant up to her knees and pivoted around on the couch, with her back now facing him, handing him the delicate piece of jewellery. Ryder fumbled with the clasp, cursing a few times under his breath as he failed to link the necklace together at the back of her neck (and humouring Marley in the process), before he finally managed to get the necklace to hang and settle at her neck on its own. He grinned at his work, and moulded his lips around a spot on the back of her pale neck to tell her that his job was complete. "Merry Christmas." He murmured, settling his hands at her waist from behind, triggering the girl to twizzle back round to meet his eyes.

"Merry Christmas." She replied sincerely, looking at his eyes, still ever-so-slightly distorted behind his glasses, but still projecting the deep brown that they possessed. Then, she was leaning closer to him and clutching his cheek, connecting their lips for a passionate kiss filled with gratitude; pulling away softly, slowly, the two were still in close proximity with one another – close enough that their foreheads met. The brunette shuffled closer, now slowly sliding onto his lap as Ryder secured her waist in his hands again, her own hands now settling at his shoulders and chest. After a while, she spoke up again. "Thanks for this. It's nice having someone to celebrate with this year – someone I care about a lot." Marley smiled timidly, triggering an even bigger smile from Ryder as he pecked her on the cheek for good measure.

"Marley!" Her mother called through the grand house in a shrill tone. "Do you kids want to join me and your father for a warm mince pie?"

The girl couldn't help but chuckle as her eyes focused on the coffee table, and the tin foil cases and pastry crumbs which she and Ryder had left there. "That's okay, Mom." She replied in between laughs. "I think we're good."

* * *

><p><strong>If you're struggling to visualise Marley's peony necklace, do not fret – there are links to pictures of it in my profile :-)<strong>

**Another chapter! Gosh, this is getting me all festive and it's only mid-November... Woops. Anyway, half angst, half fluff. Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Please review if you get the chance – I love hearing from you all, it makes my day, honestly. Perhaps you might even want to hazard a guess as to what happens next…**

**Hopefully I'll be able to update soon, but I'm kind of busy with school and now the school's production of Grease (yaaaaayyy) – I'm teen angel. It's hilarious.**

**Until next time,**

**Beth :-)**


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